So I took some time off as my right shoulder kept bothering me. It's still bothering me and waking up a bit stiff with pain upon turning my neck. I have a history of bursitis and for some reason I just can't get it to stop hurting intermittently. I really wanted to get back into my workouts so I just started up again this morning. This workout was tough and I feel like I lost some strength and may have some failures on this cycle. I switched to high bar squats as the low bar position seemed to be aggravating my shoulder more so I may not be as strong with the high bar. I may also eventually switch to front bar squats but we'll see. BP was super heavy and I almost didn't make the 8 reps. I've been working on my hand placement on the bar. My bench is shitty and won't allow me to grip it at shoulder width length from the start position so I've been lowering the first rep and moving my grip in while the bar rests on my chest. All the other lifts felt ok. I may be going too heavy on rows as well and took a bit of weight off OHP for this cycle. Overall I'm happy to be back at it but unsure how I'm going to hold up. I really need to be consistent because this 2 week break really took a toll on my strength...and I'll probably be sore in the next couple days as well.

The routine I'm doing has me doing the same lifts, 3 days a week, but with a heavy day, medium day (-10%), and light day (-20%)...I don't think I could do heavy squats every other day but my recovery is good and I feel like this routine is working well for me besides my shoulder issue which I'm not sure is related to the workouts as I've had a history of bursitis even before I started lifting.

What kind of routine would you recommend for a beginner who wants to build muscle primarily?

The routine I'm doing has me doing the same lifts, 3 days a week, but with a heavy day, medium day (-10%), and light day (-20%)...I don't think I could do heavy squats every other day but my recovery is good and I feel like this routine is working well for me besides my shoulder issue which I'm not sure is related to the workouts as I've had a history of bursitis even before I started lifting.

What kind of routine would you recommend for a beginner who wants to build muscle primarily?

Well, what you have said could work and you seem to gauge that it is working well for you. I'd say a beginner could do well on a 4 day split, something like Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri. Nutrition would be paramount and the macros tailored for him/her to best encourage and support muscle growth.

I had someone ask me a few weeks back what I thought about the minimum requirement of protein required daily for building muscle. Well, the American RDA (I believe) is 0.4g/lbs, but this is based off studies with relatively sedentary individuals. Logic would dictate that the more active you are then the more protein is going to be required; on a base level the protein will simply be used to fascilitate muscular recovery, preventing muscle/bone loss and providing your body with what it needs to either maintain or build muscle, depending on your activity type and the intensity level.

For strength training athletes I would be looking at at least double that, so 1g/lb bodyweight and upwards. The reason I am suggesting one gram/lb bodyweight and upwards is that people that train with weights are definately going to working at least twice as hard as the sedentary person (bit of a no-brainer there), so 1g would really be just a starting point. As you increase the protein markedly past this point, there has to be some optimal point where muscle building can occur ~ the ideal combination of training stimuli and protein intake/utilisation in the body. I'd have to look at the data for this, but I would say it's impossible to set a definative number as everybody is different, both with their muscular response to training, diet and how well their digestive system is functioning. Then of course you have the different types of protein, the main two being animal and plant... there are a lot of variables to factor in.

For an experienced lifter I would probably start around the 1.5g/lb bodyweight mark and take it from there depending on their initial response to that amount, beginner you could probably get away with a little less than that as they should be more responsive to the training stimulus (initially at least)

I'm still having some shoulder issues but may be doing better...not sure. Right elbow got tweaked on Monday and is still not feeling well today. I'm trying to be consistent so I hope these problems don't get in the way!

Made it through ok. Squats are tough and I feel like my right shoulder/neck is still being bothered by the movement. On BP I realized my right wrist/hand is being bothered as well. My right elbow is also still giving me some pain. oh, my right side! I'm feeling good about staying consistent. I'll see where it gets me. Stronger? Bigger? Nagging Pain? maybe all 3.

So I just watched chewybaws videos from his latest post and that dude has me inspired. I have been following his posts here for like 3 years and it's awesome to see him lifting heavier weights all the time and looking like he is kicking ass. Go check out his training log now!

Yeah, so, squats were awesome...really hard sets but I made all the reps! I'm pissed that I miscalculated the weight for my 1st set of bench...realized about 4 reps into the set. Stoked I made the 2nd set at the heavier weight though...last 3 reps were slow! I've been thinking about rows a lot and trying to work out proper form. The program calls for bent over rows where the weight hangs and never comes to a stop on the floor or anything however it's easy for form to break down and cheat out some reps without really realizing it in the heat of the moment. I think I'll definitely keep this weight for next cycle and work on form a lot throughout the lighter days. The rest of the workout went well - I feel especially taxed on this heavy day. I worked out fasted after a few days of eating less than I normally eat so I may just be lacking the energy to power out the whole workout....I just haven't been too hungry and enjoying being free of digestion issues. I have been eating light during the day and having big dinners which seems to feel right at the moment. Also, I am still having issues with my right side: shoulder/neck, elbow, wrist/hand, foot...I just want to note it here for future reference...

Ouch, my back is hurting! Not sure what happened. It felt a little strained later in the workout but nothing that would make me stop lifting. Then late in the night it started to hurt and I had a tough time laying down in bed all night. Now today it is hurting a lot as well. I feel a strain in my mid back when I round it bending over. It's basically my entire core that I need to do everything I do so I hope the pain goes away and I recover quickly. I feel like every exercise hits the back and I have always wondered how good my form is on all the lifts. I am never sure as I have never trained with anyone else and when I sought help recently was told that my form looked good but it was just a quick session at the local crossfit. I might switch SLDLs to RDLs and drop the weight on BORs to make sure my back stays straight. I know I have a butt tuck on squats but based on videos it looks like my low back stays straight and does not round though I have had upper back issues in my right shoulder which is definitely aggravated during squats as well as other lifts so I may be rounding a bit. I'm not sure what to do but I want to be consistent so hopefully I heal quickly. I'm thinking I'll probably skip the light day this week and hope for the best for the next heavy day. I'll see how I feel during warm up sets.

I healed enough to get back in the game but was still hurting and failed some lifts on the last heavy day of this cycle so I'll be keeping the weight the same on BP, Rows, and OHP. I'm happy that I made 12 reps on the 1st sets of BP and OHP so really my endurance just needs to catch up there. I'm not sure if I should drop the weight on rows as I'm finally settling on my form but I had hurt my back last week and also continue to have issues with my right shoulder which gets pinched a bit at the top of the Row. Overall I'm happy that I only skipped 1 workout which was a light day and gave myself a couple extra days before getting back at it. Squats went up pretty easy so I'm feeling strong and good there. I'm hoping I continue to heal, get solid on my form, and keep pushing it consistently on the next cycle. I'm drinkiing fresh squeezed OJ now and already feeling re-energized! I'll have another banana smoothie later on and some baby spinach to finish my day.

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